Legendary Genovese family underboss dead at 95
Legendary mobster Venero “Benny Eggs” Mangano, the hard-boiled underboss of the Genovese crime family under Vincent "The Chin" Gigante, died Friday. He was 95.
The old-school Mangano passed away in Greenwich Village, the neighborhood where he spent most of his life and ran his operations out of a Thompson St. social club.
Mangano was among the most highly respected Mafiosi among New York’s five organized crime families, rising through the ranks to serve as Gigante’s right-hand man.
The longtime Chin loyalist infamously refused to testify at Gigante’s 1997 federal trial when called to the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse by prosecutors.
Mob boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante.
“What do you want to do, shoot me?” snapped tough guy Mangano. “Shoot me, but I'm not going to answer any questions. I’m tired of these charades.”
The mob veteran invoked the Fifth Amendment twice, his dignity and oath of omerta remaining intact.
The resolutely old-school Mangano made his exit without giving an inch — or a useful answer — to the feds.
The made man kept his mouth shut across more than 13 years in prison before his Nov. 2, 2006, release. He reportedly returned to serve as part of a rotating panel of veterans overseeing the Genovese family once released.
He was jailed for a 1991 conviction in the “Windows Case,” where the mob made tens of millions of dollars installing new windows in city housing projects.
Mangano held the line against the city’s other crime families when they pressed for a bigger piece of the $151 million in business generated by the scam.
“It’s all ours,” Mangano declared when the Luccheses and the Gambinos complained about the arrangement. “Nobody’s supposed to touch it.”
Mangano’s nickname stemmed from an egg store once run by his mother, back before he served as a World War II tail gunner — with two D-Day bombing runs among his 33 missions.
Mangano’s nickname stemmed from an egg store once run by his mother, back before he served as a World War II tail gunner.
The future gangster earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and an air medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters and three Battle Stars for his heroism over Europe.
Mangano grew up in the Village as did Gigante, joining the Chin’s crew before his ascension to boss in 1981. The pair was even indicted together nine years later as co-defendants in the Windows case.
Mangano was busted four times for bookmaking, and once served eight months in jail for refusing to testify in a Pennsylvania prosecution.
His legitimate business was M&J Enterprises, a company that purchased leftover designer clothing for resale overseas. Among his clients: Fashion icon Calvin Klein.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/venero-benny-eggs-mangano-genovese-underboss-dead-95-article-1.3423874
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